The Stock Market Crash of 1929 was an economic disaster that caused depressions in every country in the world except China and the African colonies. It was caused by the stock market "bubble" that had grown during the 1920s, which finally burst. Similar patterns played out in Britain, where the upstart Silver Shirts forced the Conservative Party to take a hard political line when they elected Winston Churchill as Prime Minister; and in France, where Action Francaise brought down the Third Republic and elevated Charles XI as king.